Take Two: Striptease
by Befanini
Summary: With a pinch of sin... Sequel to BareNaked
1. Motion

**August 31, 2007**

**Title: Take Two: Striptease (Part 14 of Barely Breathing)**

**Author: Befanini**

**Rating: M**

**Disclaimer: Hell, I wish. XD**

**Summary: "With a pinch of sin…" Sequel to BareNaked**

**A/N: As before, inspired by, and dedicated to,C4PyroGirl. You can read the original alpha theme set by her at the GojyoxSanzo y! club, titled "50 Sentences".**

**Also for Daxzia. Chibis say: get better soon, clone mommy!**

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**#01 – Motion**

He used to narrow his eyes and give me a withering glance every time he caught me staring, but hell can you blame me? Dammit, even the man's _shadow_ has grace, I swear. Just watching him sitting there in the darkness, perched on the windowsill, a mere silhouette of fine lines and graceful limbs and the cigarette smoke curling from his fingertips… just watching him _breathe_ mesmerizes me. It does to this day.

My secret joy is to wake before him and watch him sleeping. The way those impossibly long eyelashes fan out on his cheeks as his eyelids twitch ever-so-slightly… the steady rise and fall of his chest, the way those silky strands shift across the pillow like liquid fire when he turns his head, his lips parted softly with the rhythm of his breathing… and I wait for it, and I watch for it, and then it comes – the faint, sweet smile playing on those lips that let me know he is dreaming of me – and Heaven help me I cannot help but give in and move to wake him with a kiss.


	2. Cool

**#02 – Cool**

I call him Ice Princess (heh) but in truth he is far from cool – you know how sometimes they say that ice can burn you? My point exactly. Even a single passion-filled glance from those glacier eyes is enough to melt me: man oh man it's the sweetest burn ever. And when it's just the two of us? Heh. Allow me to quote a simple formula: fire + ice equals steeeaammmm-y… _(THWAK!) _(Oi!!! Grumble...)

(Baka! 'Ch…) He swaggers around like the most arrogant tomcat, all flashing grin and wicked eyes and strutting about like a damned peacock, as if he's the coolest thing that ever existed… _(I am, too!) _(Urusei! … sigh) He may be a cool cat, with or without his idiotic posturing – but I like him best when he's my own private wildcat behind closed doors. _(Well, thank you, baby. Hehehe…) _(Feh! Shut up or die!)


	3. Young

**#03 – Young**

I don't care if it sounds ridiculous. I want to have his baby, dammit! _(K'so kappa!!!) _Just _think_ of it! A chibi version of that angel face, all huge purple eyes and rosebud mouth and a golden cap of hair… I would probably cuddle such a creature to death—! No, I won't either. I'll cherish and treasure and protect my mini-monk the same way I do his daddy… heh. Pleeeease, San-chan? _(Twitch... THWAK-THWAK!)_

(Sigh...) He has the makings of a very good father, I'll give you that. Not many people notice it, but Gojyo is very tender and caring with young ones. I have seen him, in the course of our travels – the little girl with the necklace, the halfbreed infant, and the unfortunate youkai twins, just to name a few. Not to mention how he was with Goku, three years ago. And still is to this day. What amazes me more is when I think about _his_ childhood – I at least had my Master. Yet he carries no bitterness, no grudge… if anything he seems to overflow with kindness and generosity and heartbreaking tenderness for little souls; as if in doing so he is comforting the child within who so yearned only to be loved. _(You love me enough now to more than make up for it, tenshi...) _(Not if you insist on your stupid daydreams. Ugh.) _(Grumble...)_


	4. Last

**#04 – Last**

He may not be my first, but he's certainly my last. And my _always_. We are Alpha and Omega.

Hn. You'd better remember that…


	5. Wrong

**#05 – Wrong**

They say that the union of youkai and human is forbidden. I wonder what they would say about a halfbreed loving a human? Does the same curse still apply? Is it still the same abomination? All I know is none of the rules make any hell of a difference to me. He is my Sanzo, and that is that.

I am certainly not your typical Sanzo Houshi, that is true – I wield a gun, I drink, I smoke, I curse. And yet, I cannot rightly say that he is only the latest in the long line of sacred vows that I chose to break. That would be a gross oversimplification of the matter, and an unforgivable insult to his worth. You love who you love. Fuck the rules. He is my Gojyo, insufferable brat that he is.


	6. Gentle

**#06 – Gentle**

Sanzo doesn't like to advertise his gentle side, but it's there. You just have to know where to spot it… His strong hand on Goku's forehead the few times the monkey gets sick… his quiet voice talking with my best friend about whatever it is intellectuals talk about… even the occasional clumsy, hesitant pat on Hakuryu's nose, believe it or not. Heh. … And of course when he pulls me into his arms in the deep of night, and forces my head down on his shoulder as those ivory fingers tangle in my hair and his lips press themselves against my forehead… then, he is so unbelievably gentle – in stark contrast to my wild lover of only moments before – that he takes my breath away all over again.

I'll give you just one example, and that's all you're going to need. That time that he so royally pissed me off going off on his own on a personal vendetta for those unfortunate kids? Recall the incident at the cliff. The same brutal strength that lends deadliness to the Shakujou as a killing device translated for me that night into an unbelievably careful touch, despite all the curses I hurled at him to the contrary as he dragged me up. … Why do you think I gave him a light? Because his arm was all but scraped raw, while mine was only numb. _He bore the brunt. _That's how he is. That's how he'll always be.


	7. One

**#07 – One**

Yes, I admit. I was one hell of a playboy. _Was. _Today, though – today and tomorrow and as long as I live – I am a changed man. Because he's not "my number one". He's my _only_ one.

Is he the one? When I swore I was complete unto myself, utterly; that I needed no one, much less _wanted_ any one? Is he the one? To my utter mortification, the answer is yes… but to tell you honestly I cannot now imagine life any other way. _(I don't know whether to be pleased or insulted, monk.) _(Then wipe that stupid grin off your face before it splits your head apart, asshole…) _(Hai-hai, tenshi…)_


	8. Thousand

**#08 – Thousand**

In a thousand years, I swear, cross my heart and hope to die, I will never, never, ever… get used to his fascination with mayonnaise. Brrrr…

(Twitch.) You have a thousand milliseconds left to live, you insufferable scum. _(Hehehe, but I didn't say it wasn't cute, did I?) _(Feh! Idiot!)


	9. King

**#09 – King**

He is the most arrogant man I've ever met, but here's what I've never confessed up till now: that superiority of his that used to irritate the hell out of me? His aloof, disdainful manner that used to rub me the wrong way? Now I see it with different eyes, from a different perspective. Now I see that his pride is _regal_. He has the carriage and disposition of the great kings of legend. It is what makes him _our_ leader, despite being the lone human. He is firm, and commanding, and authoritative, strong and proud and utterly self-confident. Even before falling in love with the arrogant prick I had sworn to follow him wherever he led, even to the very ends of the earth. Such is his charisma. He is the stuff kings are made of.

Idiot… Ever the smooth talker. _(…) _Sigh. Forget all that babble. It is _he_ who makes me feel like a king. I don't know about nobility and wisdom and all that highfaluting bullshit – but when he gazes at me with those crimson eyes overflowing with total acceptance of all my faults, blazing with total worship despite my imperfect soul – he makes me feel like a king. … And so – it is _his _gallantry, his chivalry – not just to me, but to all that he encounters, women and children, young and old – his courage and his kindness and his lion heart make him a king. _(Aw, you flatter me overmuch, my beloved Snow Queen. Heh heh heh…) _(I'm going to KILL you.)


	10. Learn

**#10 – Learn**

Aside from his mini-lessons on stargazing and current events and meditation (heh, remember that?) – I've learned so many things, being with Sanzo. Persistence, for one thing. Heh. I also had to discover ways to convince him of my sincerity, given my admittedly, er – "colorful" reputation prior to him. I taught myself patience and self-control where he is concerned, in return for his lessons on self-worth and confidence. Because I'm sure you can guess the lesson I cherish the most… he transformed my damnation into my _healing_. Red is life. Red is beauty. Red is bold and strong.

Who knew that this free spirit, this wild and happy-go-lucky gypsy could teach me so much? He taught me trust, he taught me intimacy, he taught me to open my heart again and allow myself the incomparable comfort and simple joy of allowing another soul into these hollow depths. He's taught me carnal bliss… and the even greater pleasure of just the warmth of his body beside me, upon me, beneath me, skin on skin, breathing quietly and just soaking in each other's presence. He taught me the comfort of _human touch_, the pure delight of _togetherness, _and I cherish that even more than the agonizing ecstasy of sex, mind-blowing as it is. …He's even managed to convince me, one night when we were caught in a shower, canoodling in the shadows away from camp – he's even managed to convince me that the rain is beautiful. Hn…

* * *

XxXxX

TBC!

Next time: Blur, Wait, Change, Command, Hold, Need, Vision, Attention, Soul and Picture.

See ya!

XxXxX

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	11. Blur

**September 15, 2007**

**#11 – Blur**

Once, I was crazy enough to try on his glasses while he was asleep… you can bet it was the last time I tried that trick, too. (Oh man, I was seasick for hours!) _(Serves you right, baka.)_

These days, the endless droning of the engine and the dust of the road and the ache of my back are somewhat easier to bear, with the warm blur of crimson and bronze and leather in the rearview mirror… _(Wow. That was… unexpected.) _(It was undeserved too.) _(Bah humbug.)_


	12. Wait

**#12 – Wait**

It's true that I've had to learn some patience, loving my corrupt monk and everything that goes with it – but maaaaan it's still _agony_, after days on end between towns and I'm just dying to devour him – it's pure _torture_ having to go through the motions of eating leisurely and playing cards and monkeying around with Goku while he and Hakkai discuss the map endlessly, and on top of _that_, letting an hour or two go by after lights out for good measure – I _suffer_, I tell you! It's_ hell_!

… And he makes sure to make it hellish for me too, the asshole. Stolen brushes of his hand against the small of my back while Hakkai is booking the rooms… the searing whisper of his knuckles grazing my nape as we sit down to dinner… his foot driving me to distraction and causing me to lose several rounds of in mahjong. Bah. …And yet, when all is finally quiet, it's a little slice of Heaven to read the paper leisurely, feeling the day's tension draining from my limbs – and all the while with the delicious tingle of awareness in a corner of my mind, that soon he will come to replace that tension with a different kind of torture – and one that I have come to revel in… the unbearable pleasure of drowning in his arms.


	13. Change

**#13 – Change**

I would not now change him for all the most beautiful women in the world, cranky and superior and egotistical as he is… no, not even for the chance to be that pitiful woman's true, full-blooded son. Come to that, I would not even change him for the female equivalent, if such a thing were possible. _(Not even for the chance to "have my baby"?) _(…Not even then, my cheeky k'so bouzu. Heh.) _(Hn.) _I want him just as he is – this brooding, hot-tempered, angel-faced, supremely solitary man is the creature I fell in love with, and no other will do.

If the saying is true, that "the only constant in life is change" – if that is true… I no longer grow weary at the thought, as long as he walks the endless road with me.


	14. Command

**#14 – Command**

What a magnificent sight he is to behold, my Sanzo, chanting in that arresting voice, calling forth the wrath of Heaven to incinerate his enemy… the way he commands the Holy Sutra and bends its devastating power to his will, fills me with reverence and with awe. You _do_ realize that each time he wields the Maten Scripture that it poses a fatal threat to us three, as well? So in effect, he also casts a protective shield on the three of us, commanding the power of the sutra to leave us untouched. To think that he holds that power – the right to instruct the Heavens to pass over three demons of his choosing, while obliterating the rest – and each and every time his directive is carried out without exception, without question. _Such is the Chosen of Buddha_. For all his cursing and his cruelty, his smokes and his sake – my lover, _my love, _-- is truly Heaven's Child. He may not be 'holy' in the conventional sense, but his purity transcends mean earthly measures and renders him _divine_.

I'll tell you what is truly astonishing – his total control over my body. When he worships me with his eyes and his lips and his hands, with silken hair and warm skin and taut muscles – that is when I feel most divine… a god laid bare, adored and idolized in the most primitive and primal way. …And the paradox is, that the master becomes the slave – my body yields itself to him, and he molds it, renders it pliant and melting at his command, as if I were clay at the hands of the artist to do with as he pleases. Long before I admitted it to myself, my body has danced to his tune – he the mad fiddler commanding my flesh to sing like the most finely tuned Stradivarius. It was the reason why I was so hostile towards him, cutting him with derogatory words; because I was so acutely aware of my body being a traitor to myself. No matter how I willed it to feel nothing, to show no reaction – my flesh betrayed me with stupid burning cheeks and damnable trembling and fiercely muted gasps and uncontrollable shudders at the merest "accidental" brush of his fingertips on mine, the faintest whisper of his breath on my hair when he leaned in close to borrow a light.


	15. Hold

**#15 – Hold**

I have him now. I hold him every chance I get. And I'm never letting go. Till death do us part? Not even. The second he goes, I will follow.

Clichés be damned, and fuck what the world chooses to believe. Out of character as it may be – this irreverent wild child holds my heart in the palm of his hand.


	16. Chapter 16

**#16 – Need**

Between towns, we've kinda perfected the art of stealing, cough – "alone time" – cough, so long as we're camping in a forest and not the desert. _(You mean you've corrupted me with your insatiable appetite, you bastard.) _(Damn right, cherry-chan. -Wink-) It's still risky, though – and often only _he_ is satisfied, if you know what I mean. Heh. These days, though – it's strange how deeply satisfying even _that much_ is, despite my own unfulfilled needs… I suppose it's sorta like the warm glow you get inside, when you give someone a gift just for the pleasure of it.

Well it's not enough for _me_, dammit! He might have temporarily taken care of the physical ache – but it doesn't satisfy my bone-deep desire to see his face suffused with passion for me, head thrown back in brazen abandonment and knowing _I'm _responsible for his pleasure, with low sexy growls of bliss spilling from those wicked lips – my pleasure is not complete unless it's coupled with his… _(Growl!!! Come to Daddy, my wanton little sex god!) _(THWAK! Don't get me wrong, eejit. I just like to repay my debts.)_ (Suuure.) _


	17. Vision

**#17 – Vision**

You knew me first as the playboy heartbreaker, and now you know I'm a romantic, and proud of it. Might as well tell you – I'm a daydreamer too… Sometimes I just like to fantasize of a different life, that I'm not on a joyride to hell on orders from Three Talking Heads, traveling with a bottomless pit, a mother hen and a tight-assed beauty. …Yeah, sometimes I like to imagine we're just two ordinary guys who maybe met each other through our roomies, each with no overwhelming baggage from the past and a future we are free to choose… a future where we are free to choose each other… heh.

'Ch. I have a vision in my head. Gyuumaoh sleeps on, undisturbed. The Seiten Scripture rests safely with me, my Master avenged at last, and those responsible punished or dead. What the Brat Prince and his Brat Pack's roles are remain ambiguous. The one sure thing I see is this: the Sanzo-ikkou stand proudly in the end, bruised and damaged perhaps but hell still standing. Alive. Yes, even the squeaky dragon. And we retrace our Journey back East, and this halfbreed brat remains _mine_ to torture and possess even after the mission is done. …If he is not too annoying, sometimes I might even cherish him. _That_ is my vision. And by the name that my Master bestowed upon me, I _swear_ that I will see it come to pass. (You got that, idiot?) _(The rest of my life, in chains? Bound to you? Sounds like Heaven to me, my supremely arrogant hage bouzu.) _(Good.) _(May the slave gobble you up now?) _(THWAK!!!)


	18. Attention

**#18 – Attention**

Traveling by jeep used to be so boring, you can't imagine – hours and hours on end scorched by the blazing sun (or worse, caught in a storm and drenched to the skin), with the monkey's high-pitched whining of "Harahetta!" every five minutes, and a trigger-happy blondie suddenly going mad with his bullets or that infernal paper fan… You don't even have the luxury of sleeping to pass the tedious droning landscape – believe me, even nature gets annoying when all you see are trees and rocks or blowing sand for miles around. No, you can't even sleep for the continuous bumps on the road that jolt you awake (unless you're a log like Goku). It used to drive me absolutely _bonkers_ – and small wonder that as soon as we got in sight of civilization I headed off for a beer straightaway, and then some pocket money and mindless entertainment perhaps with a good card game, and after that… well… you know how I used to be. Finding company for the night was more important than rest. Heh. _These_ days, though – these days, my sore ass and stiff back (pun intended _twice_, I assure you!) – the discomfort and the endless road with the sun beating down on me – these are nothing. Mere trifle. Because they cannot even penetrate the sweet torture of sitting behind him, dazzled by sunkissed hair blowing in the wind, mesmerized by fleeting glimpses of an oh-so-pale nape sharply contrasted by that sexy black garment… hypnotized by glittering amethyst that meet my gaze in the mirror, and seeing myself reflected in those piercing purple depths – seeing the same yearning, the same terrible hunger for me blazing there, the same as mine for him – let me tell you, I am far from bored these days, with a fallen angel riveting my attention… but in some ways I suffer worse, too. Heh.

Hn. Good. _(Eh???) _Because it's not easy for me, either – when _his_ torture is over and we finally come to a town. Then _my_ torture starts… I've recently discovered what a selfish bastard I am, when the cheeky devil swaggers along and all eyes turn to him – those red eyes and red hair are an arresting combination, make no mistake, and couple that with the bastard's undeniable animal sex appeal… well. _(Kawaii!! You're so adorable when you're jealous, Sanzo-chan…) _(Twitch) (I told you, I'm SELFISH, asshole! 'Ch!) (THWAK!) _(Ow… that too…) _(Quiet, fool!) As I was saying – it makes me feel positively _volcanic_ to see him turn on the charm for the ladies _(Hoooow many times do I haaaave to--) _(Urusei!!!) – whenever he flashes that megawatt smile, even knowing that it's that gallantry at work again, with him being polite and pleasing the girls who are so obviously and irritatingly awestruck by him – even knowing that's he's just being nice, and paying attention to them because paradox of paradoxes this incorrigible flirt is such a soft-hearted gentleman – even knowing it's all an act, and all the better to keep our relationship a secret; even knowing that he's all flashy talk and nothing more, that _I_ own his heart, his body and his soul – even knowing all that… makes it no less annoying to me. I want all of his attention all to myself, and I want to put bullets in anything and anyone else who pay him attention – only _I_ should have that privilege and that pleasure, dammit… So I'm fucking obsessed. So I'm a selfish prick. It's his goddamn fault for tricking me into falling in love with him… _(I soooo want to ravish you for that, monk.) _(Grumble…)


	19. Soul

**#19 – Soul**

The first time I witnessed him chanting, and first glimpsed that incandescent soul – well, I've said over and over again that that moment was the end of me. He is the imperishable flame from which each of us are kindled. Corrupt as he is with all his vices and his violence – he is a great man, and destined to be one of the greatest, I believe… and I'm humbled to think that I have glimpsed portions of that beautiful soul that no one else has, and no one else ever will.

…My soul awakened to beauty only by virtue of touching his, that's all I can say. And it's more than enough.


	20. Picture

**#20 – Picture**

Once, I woke up suddenly, my body automatically roused by his absence beside me, missing the warmth of him pressed to my skin. I waited a few minutes, unable to get back to sleep without him in my arms, but he didn't show. Worried, I pulled on my jeans and went searching for him. On the way, I passed Hakkai and Goku's room, and the door was slightly ajar… and I saw something there that made me stop in my tracks. I walked closer, making sure to step lightly, and just watched the sight, breathless. …He was sitting beside Goku's bed, a pale hand on the kid's forehead, and faintly by the light of the moon from the window I could see his lips moving, perhaps whispering a silent blessing. Well, I crept back to our room and waited patiently in bed for him, tenderness overwhelming me at the picture I'd witnessed. Goku at that time had been sick, a poisoned dart from the enemy, a dart that the kid had taken for Sanzo at the last moment by launching himself in front of his beloved Sun. Of course Hakkai had roomed with Goku, our healer best equipped to watch over the stupid sick monkey – but it was too sweet to think that Sanzo had gotten up in the deep of night, worried about his charge, and crept from our cozy lovenest to check on Goku. When he came back, I pretended to be asleep, "waking up" when he nudged me impatiently to move so he could rest his head on my shoulder. I "sleepily" mumbled something about him and his old man trips to the bathroom at night, and got the pinch on my nipple that I deserved. It didn't spoil the memory of that simple, sweet picture one bit, though.

It was one of those rainy nights. Even though he's cured me of my loathing for rain, I still appreciate his warm body and enjoy resting in his arms while listening to the patter of raindrops on the eaves, my sleep undisturbed by old nightmares. So that night, when I woke to find myself alone, curiosity and a strange instinct led me downstairs… I stayed in the shadow of the stairwell, and sure enough there he was with Hakkai, looking totally out-matched in their card game, and out-drank as well, because hell Hakkai never gets drunk, and there were enough bottles on the table between them to knock out even me. I stood there, in my jeans, barefoot, and felt a smile creeping to my lips at the very thought of it – that he would sneak away from me when I was safely asleep, even knowing that I still "needed" him on these rainy nights, to hold me and warm me up more than anything else, really – so to think that he had rightly judged that this time his best friend's need for company was greater – that Hakkai was still mourning a wound in his heart, whereas Gojyo and I had so much together – it was his lion heart all over again, and the picture of him daring my wrath (to his mind, anyway, without knowing how deeply the picture affected me quite to the _contrary_, provoking tenderness instead of rage) – the picture of him being there for his best friend gave me yet another glimpse into the warm and generous and kind heart of this devil who is my lover… By the time he'd finally crashed back into bed with me, and with the undeniable stench of alcohol and cigarettes, I could feel how tense he was, expecting me to rail about him fooling around on me. He got the shock of his life, let me assure you, when I pounced on him – stinking and dazed as he was – and covered him with kisses, the lingering picture of Gojyo the loyal best friend for life burning brightly behind my closed eyes.

XxXxX

TBC!

Next time: Fool, Mad, Child, Now, Shadow, Goodbye, Hide, Fortune, Safe, and Ghost.

Thanks for reading.

XxXxX


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